The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Longhorn Profiles: Cameron Dicker
09.20.2019 | Football
Longhorn sophomore Cameron Dicker is making a name for himself at Texas.
Texas has a rich tradition of placekickers on the Forty Acres; from Happy Feller, to Russell Erxleben, Jeff Ward, Phil Dawson, Justin Tucker and it's only Lou Groza Award finalist Anthony Fera, the list goes on and on. The Longhorns have had a veritable who's who of All-American and all-conference kickers don the Burnt Orange on kickoffs and field goals at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Cameron Dicker hopes to one day measure up to the standards established by his predecessors and join that list.
"There have been a lot of great kickers that have come through here, and it feels cool to be able to come in and try and be one of those guys," Dicker said. "There really isn't any pressure to perform at their level, but it's cool to have an opportunity to work toward being named among them."
Three games into his sophomore campaign, Dicker's name is already garnering some comparisons to the many of the Longhorn kicking greats. Hitting a 40-yard game-winner with nine seconds left in a 48-45 upset victory over Oklahoma your freshman year and splitting the uprights on a 57-yarder — the longest field goal by a Texas kicker in 35 years (57, Jeff Ward vs. Texas A&M, 1985) — with room to spare this season will do that. The moniker FOX sports broadcaster Gus Johnson tagged to the Longhorns kicker, "Dicker the Kicker" hasn't hurt either.
But it's more than clinching a victory over a rival or hitting from a distance only Erxleben and Ward have previously connected from in Longhorn history – it's the assurance he has instilled in his teammates that he will succeed.
"When we run off the field and the field goal unit's running on, I never think, 'Oh, I hope he makes this,'" junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger said. "I have supreme confidence in him and the mentality that he's going to make it every time."
According to Dawson, a Longhorn All-American who retired this year after 21 NFL seasons, that supreme confidence is the key to what Dicker has achieved so far.
"Cameron has stepped right in and made it clear that he's there to make kicks," Dawson said. "You can tell by just watching them that his teammates believe in him, and that's the most important thing you can ever accomplish as a kicker."
Dicker's 18 field goals and 105 points in 2018 were the most ever by a Longhorn freshman. He's been good on 4-of-5 field goals and all 17 extra points this season to push his career numbers to 22-of-30 field goals and 68-of-69 extra points.
Ranked among the nation's top kicking recruits when he committed to Texas, there was no guarantee he would win the starting job in his first season, and he considered redshirting. After battling through camp, Dicker was named the starter for the season-opener against Maryland and grabbed the reigns for good with three successful kicks against USC in the third game of the season.
Facing challenges is nothing new for Dicker. Born in Hong Kong, he spent much of his early youth in Shanghai, China, where his father worked in supply chain management, before moving to Austin prior to entering sixth grade.
"The transition was weird and a bit rough friend-wise," Dicker said. "It was somewhat of a cultural shock, but not too bad, because I grew up in an area where a lot of American and European families lived, so many of the cultural aspects were there for me already."
Dicker had played soccer for much of his childhood in Shanghai, but began playing football in the fifth grade when his father and several of the American and European expats decided to form a team.
"I was an o(offensive)-lineman, because I was one of the bigger kids, and I hated it," Dicker recalls. "There were maybe 24 kids playing, so there were just two teams playing against each other every weekend, and we all practiced together."
Still one of the bigger kids in seventh grade, Dicker played another season on the offensive line, adding kicking duties midway through the season. It was then that Dicker determined that he was going to be a kicker, never considering playing another position.
The position seemed suited for Dicker, who has exhibited poise and self-assurance in the early stages of his kicking career, while also making sure to have fun and enjoy the moment.
"I don't really get nervous," Dicker said. "During games, I'm really relaxed and don't really hear much of anything else. I'm just enjoying what I do. I approach every kick the same; I stay confident and trust myself in everything that I'm doing and go through knowing that every kick's the same no matter what the situation is."
It remains to be seen if he'll be able to challenge Russell Erxleben's Longhorn record for 50-yard field goals (11), Dawson's 59 career field goals or Dawson and Fera's shared mark of 15-straigth field goals, but Dicker is certainly enjoying the opportunity.
"I feel comfortable from 50 in, I would like to make 100 percent of those," Dicker said. "From beyond 50, it's, 'Let's go with it and have fun.'"
Dawson, a member of the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor and NFL All-Pro, believes that with his poise and mindset, Dicker is on the right track. That's strong praise from a kicker who made 441 career NFL field goals, connecting on 83.8 percent of his attempts as a pro.
"Cameron is off to a great start early in his career, he's already made some big kicks," Dawson said. "If he keeps going, he can be the next name in the long line of names at The University of Texas. I know as a Longhorn, it makes me proud when I see him take the field to kick."
